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A double bill of Brian Hill’s first collaborations with poet Simon Armitage takes us to Leeds on a Saturday Night and into the lives of England’s drinkers.
A double bill of Brian Hill’s first collaborations with poet Simon Armitage takes us to Leeds on a Saturday Night and into the lives of England’s drinkers – using poetry and song to entertain but also give unexpected insight.
Saturday Night (1996, 50 mins)
Breaking through the boundary between observational documentary and poetic interpretation, Saturday Night was Brian Hill’s first commission for ‘Modern Times’ and his first collaboration with Simon Armitage. Shot in striking black and white, we go in search of the heart of Saturday night through the lives of assorted revellers, ravers, rogues and cross-dressers.
Drinking for England (1998, 50 mins)
Brian Hill and Simon Armitage went on to develop their collaboration with music and sung verse in this hilarious but prophetically cautionary tale of Britain’s drinking habits. Where most documentaries on alcohol intake adopt a moralistic tone, Drinking for England sets out to explore the nation’s number one drug from the drinker’s point of view.